A Nexus 8? Mysterious tablet pictured in KitKat promotional material

It has on-screen buttons, tiny bezels, KitKat, and an approximately 8" screen.

Google's Android.com promotional site was revamped with the launch of the Nexus 5, and it seems that Google is already using it to drop hints about its next device. If you head to the Apps & Entertainment section of the new site and scroll down to the second large image, you'll see a picture of a woman holding a tablet that we've never seen before.

First spotted by Britoid on The Verge Forums, the image shows a tablet that looks to have a screen that's about 8 inches. It's running KitKat (you can tell from the status bar icons), and it has on-screen navigation buttons. Unlike the current Nexus tablet, the Nexus 7, the bezels look to be very compact. The Nexus 10 is a year old now, and many expected Google to have announced a replacement for it by now, but a smaller 8-inch tablet would be a surprise.

While this is a generic page for Android, Google has never used "fake" or generic devices in promotional material before. In fact, just above this picture is a girl holding a Nexus 7. We have seen Google leak its own devices like this before: the Nexus 5 was first spotted in an official video from Google, where an employee was casually filming the KitKat statue with it. If you thought the Nexus news grind was over, think again! We'll keep our eyes peeled for more on this one.

Update: Google seems to have noticed! The image was replaced with a Nexus 7.

Ron Amadeo
Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they work. Emailron.amadeo@arstechnica.com//Twitter@RonAmadeo

Hope so. I was just saying in a Nexus 10 thread that what I am really hoping for is a Nexus 8.

After spending some time in store playing with a bunch of tablets, I really think 7" is too small, feels like a phone (to me), but 8" is a lot more substantial without being unwieldy. 10" starts to feel unwieldy.

I would love to get a Nexus, since I very much prefer Chrome to safari on my iPad and its annoying to have to manually copy links from email into the "correct" browser, but the biggest thing stopping me is the fact that it wouldn't work with my Wahoo gear (since Android is very inconsistent with its BT4 support historically). If they were able to get the couple of bike apps that I use, I would seriously consider a Nexus 7 (or 8 or whatever sizes they have available) instead of looking at upgrading to a new iPad Air (or even the mini).

I have been holding off for the 10.2 for ages ( I want to use mine to showcase wedding and portrait work to clients - great resolution ). So for me it's dragging out not getting anything tangible on whether a new Nexus 10 is actually coming.Out of interest, as I am terrible at maths and googling the answer. Would An ipad air or current nexus 10 have a more suitable aspect ratio to show off 10 x 8 or 12 x 10 inch prints ? Any help appreciated on that one.

I want a quick Nexus 7 refresh with Snapdragon 800 (to be on par with 7" Kindle Fire HDX; also matching Nexus 5 internals), but a slightly bigger screen will work too if the device width is not increased too much.

I also like that 8" size. I'm an iOS guy myself but the new mini retina is my ideal tablet. I think a similar Nexus would make a lot of sense and likely be good enough to allow only one tablet model from Google (let Moto make two others).

Looks like it might be the iPad mini aspect ratio, as well. That would make it considerably more screen than the nexus 7, differentiating it a bit.

Doesn't look 4:3 to me, even considering the angle.

alright, apparently I'm in the minority, but if this device is real I think you'll all be surprised. My N7 barely looks that wide straight on. That said, I'm not sure I know of any existing 4:3 android device, so I'm not sure it can even handle it.

I have been holding off for the 10.2 for ages ( I want to use mine to showcase wedding and portrait work to clients - great resolution ). So for me it's dragging out not getting anything tangible on whether a new Nexus 10 is actually coming.Out of interest, as I am terrible at maths and googling the answer. Would An ipad air or current nexus 10 have a more suitable aspect ratio to show off 10 x 8 or 12 x 10 inch prints ? Any help appreciated on that one.

The iPad Air would have a more suitable aspect ratio - it's 4:3, compared to 8:5 for the Nexus 10; the print sizes you mentioned are 5:4 and 6:5, respectively, and so should fit more naturally on the iPad Air's screen. The iPad Air also has significantly better color reproduction out of the box. On the other hand, the Nexus 10 has an almost exactly 300 PPI screen, which conveniently happens to coincide with typical print DPI. If the Nexus 7 is any indication, then Google may be much more focused on accurate color representation with a potential upcoming Nexus 10 refresh, as well.

I have been holding off for the 10.2 for ages ( I want to use mine to showcase wedding and portrait work to clients - great resolution ). So for me it's dragging out not getting anything tangible on whether a new Nexus 10 is actually coming.Out of interest, as I am terrible at maths and googling the answer. Would An ipad air or current nexus 10 have a more suitable aspect ratio to show off 10 x 8 or 12 x 10 inch prints ? Any help appreciated on that one.

The iPad Air would have a more suitable aspect ratio - it's 4:3, compared to 8:5 for the Nexus 10; the print sizes you mentioned are 5:4 and 6:5, respectively, and so should fit more naturally on the iPad Air's screen. The iPad Air also has significantly better color reproduction out of the box. On the other hand, the Nexus 10 has an almost exactly 300 PPI screen, which conveniently happens to coincide with typical print DPI. If the Nexus 7 is any indication, then Google may be much more focused on accurate color representation with a potential upcoming Nexus 10 refresh, as well.

For those wanting a Nexus 8, why not get a Samsung Galaxy Note 8? Honest question as I have been window shopping tablets and thought the Samsung was pretty nice.

I was playing with one at Costco just yesterday. It did only have a 1280x800 display, which turned me off due to my intended use, but it looked clear enough and it performed well. The pen was surprisingly accurate as well. I liked the 15 minutes I had with the Note 8, the only turn off for me is I scan my own books and I am not sure a scanned PDF page would do great at that resolution (i.e. a whole page at enough resolution to view). A Nexus 10, while bigger than I want, after toying with my grandmothers Note 10.1 the 10" don't seem too big.

I just got my mom a Nexus 7 (2013) -- it is really slick. I am eagerly waiting the announcement for the new Nexus 10 as the other turn off on the Samsung's is price (over $400 for 16GB).

This is clearly 'shopped. (I've seen some pixels in my day... :-). No, seriously, if you zoom in and look closely (darn, where's my "enhance" command), it is clear that the bottom edge of the screen is not parallel with the bottom edge of the device. A sure sign of a 'shopper trying to do perspective by eye.

And if you think it is perspective, look at the top of the screen, where the same comparison even shows the perspective going the wrong way (the far edge of the screen is farther from the top of the device, when perspective would make it appear closer).

This one I am actually considering, but I would welcome more quality players to the 8" market.

Yeah I would have bought the note 8 over the N7 had it been 1080p @ A15 (Snap 600, 800, Exynos 5, don't care, just don't give me last year's SoC). Even if they had to raise the cost by 50 bucks or so. 8" is definitely the sweet spot for all round use (i.e. evenly factoring in couch, bed, public transport/on the go, portability).

a.) I don't think Goog would shoot themselves and N7 sales in the foot by releasing a N8 so soonb.) Part of the drive towards Nexus is undoubtedly the pricing. 8" screen would cost a lot more than 7" I'd wager purely because the economies of scale is not there.

I'm with those saying it's just a poorly shopped Nexus 7. The device itself looks like the Nexus 7 while, in addition to the otherwise mentioned issues with the perspective of the image, it seems to me that the screen just looks too big. Tablets are one of the few markets in which bezels are likely to have a "too small" point. Ergonomics generally dictate that tablet volume is more of a "careful balancing point" measurement than the "smaller is better as long as the edges feel nice" sort of metric that it is in smartphones.

Assuming that this really is a new Nexus tablet, I would argue for a slightly larger screen. Something between 8" and 10" seems more likely strategically, and my first impression of the image is that the screen appears to be around 9" with a higher aspect ratio, but I suppose things like that can actually be measured and I'm likely wrong.

Edit: has anyone considered that an 8" Nexus could actually be an enlarged Nexus 7, without the development costs associated with an entirely new (or even highly adapted, like the two LG phones) design, being released to provide a complete product line targeting more specific segments of the market without significantly affecting the device beyond the physical size and possibly weight (if a bigger battery is also thrown in.)

Right now I have a 7" Nook Tablet and a Note 10.1 tablet. But I have played with other people's iPad Mini's and Note 8's. I really really like the 8" form factor over the other sizes available. Not too big, not too little. Juuuust right.

I'm with those saying it's just a poorly shopped Nexus 7. The device itself looks like the Nexus 7 while, in addition to the otherwise mentioned issues with the perspective of the image, it seems to me that the screen just looks too big. Tablets are one of the few markets in which bezels are likely to have a "too small" point. Ergonomics generally dictate that tablet volume is more of a "careful balancing point" measurement than the "smaller is better as long as the edges feel nice" sort of metric that it is in smartphones.

I agree this is probably just a promotional creation and not a real device and that an 8" Nexus probably isn't that likely.

Looks like it might be the iPad mini aspect ratio, as well. That would make it considerably more screen than the nexus 7, differentiating it a bit.

Doesn't look 4:3 to me, even considering the angle.

alright, apparently I'm in the minority, but if this device is real I think you'll all be surprised. My N7 barely looks that wide straight on. That said, I'm not sure I know of any existing 4:3 android device, so I'm not sure it can even handle it.

The OS can handle a 4:3 aspect ratio no problem. I still don't think that tablet is usable at all. Suppose you are using it in landscape mode watching a video or something. Where do your thumbs go? The reason the Nexus 7 has those big bezels on the top and bottom is to comfortably hold it when you turn it sideways. That device in the picture doesn't look very usable.

One thing that makes me suspicious is the fact that the notification bar, and the navigation buttons are inside an all black bar. On a new Android Design in Action, they spent a good amount of time talking about how they are making room for the content, and trying to make the OS get out of the way. And since it's the Play Store in the picture, I would assume Google would try to follow their own guidelines.